Week 9 "Breakfast of Champions"

Eat Breakfast

The reasons for eating breakfast far outweighs the time saved walking out the door on an empty stomach. By eating breakfast everyday it kick starts your metabolism, helps you to concentrate better during the day and aids in weight loss.

Eating breakfast is simply breaking the fast. We haven’t eaten for up to 12hrs and need to refuel. Think of your stomach like the petrol tank of your car. You put petrol in the tank when it’s empty to keep it running. Why wouldn’t we do this for our body?

This week’s challenge is to eat breakfast everyday. Here are the top 8 reasons why we should eat breakfast:

Top 8 Reasons to Eat Breakfast

1. Better focus and better productivity at work, school or at home. Studies have shown that individuals who work in more laborious occupations will not work as hard in the morning leading up to lunchtime if they have not eaten breakfast. Studies have also shown a similar effect on school children who skip breakfast.

2. Maintaining healthy weight. People who skip breakfast are shown to choose less nutritious choices to curb their appetite and often they opt for the fast food options. Skipping breakfast also leads to eating throughout the evening, which is when the metabolism slows down resulting in less calories being burnt. This then results in more Calories stored in the body that is then converted into  fat.

3. Setting an example for your children and helping them develop healthy eating habits at an early age.  Lead by example, if they see you eating breakfast, they are more likely to as well.

4. Essential nutrients. Many of us do not meet the essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals needed daily. i.e., calcium, iron, fiber and Vitamin B1. Skipping breakfast guarantees we will not meet these essential nutrients.

5. Lowers cholesterol, which reduces the risk of heart disease. Research has shown that people who eat breakfast consume less dietary cholesterol then do people who don’t eat breakfast. If you eat oats it will lower your cholesterol.

6. Increase your metabolic rate. People who skip breakfast have a slower metabolism rate than normal, which may lead to weight gain of 3.6kg per year!

7. Eating breakfast can have long-term effects and helps prevent Obesity, High Blood Pressure and Diabetes.

8. Breakfast foods are delicious! Avoid the processed, fatty foods. Skip the breakfast burgers and you will prevent yourself from consuming 560 calories and a whopping 32 grams of fat! That’s not even including a coffee and a hash brown. Why not eat something healthy such as a fruit smoothy, oats or add fruit to fruit free muesli? (Carmen’s is my favourite)

Topic: Breakfasts of champions

Fact 1: Eating first thing in the morning stimulats your metabolism through a process called Thermogenesis

Fact 2: A 2005 study found that participants who consumed a high protein breakfast had enhanced feelings of eating satisfaction, fullness and lower food intake compared with those eating a low-protein breakfast.

Fact 3: Cereal is the number one food bought in supermarkets today. A vegetarian created the first breakfast cereal in 1863 in New York.

Healthy Eating Tip: If you cannot stomach solid food for breakfast try drinking smoothies

Motivational Tip: Change your language! We use negative language to keep us stuck and re-living the same results. Try replacing negative words with positive phrases such as the word “Can’t” with “I choose not to” and “Too Hard” with “its unfamiliar"